Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia compares himself to Johnny Manziel

There might be a whole group of new college football fans who don't understand what a comparison to Johnny Manziel really means.

Manziel, the No. 22 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, was a flameout in the NFL and became more meme than a quarterback.

Manziel the college football quarterback, though? There's a reason they called him "Johnny Football." The 2012 Heisman Trophy winner was the most electric player in the nation during his run at Texas A&M from 2011 to 2013.

A comparison to "Johnny Football" is no small deal, but what about when it comes from the player himself?

After Vanderbilt's 34-27 overtime win over Virginia Tech this past weekend, quarterback Diego Pavia relayed that he had heard a VT player comparing him to a "poor man's Trace McSorley."

“It was through the grapevine. So I just had to show them what I do,” Pavia said on the SEC Network, according to Robbie Weinstein of 247Sports. “I feel like I’m more of a comparison to Johnny Football. That’s who I am.”

To be fair to Pavia, he did back up that vibe against Virginia Tech. He completed 12-of-16 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 104 yards and a score on the ground.

Those are "Johnny Football-like" numbers, but let's see if he can keep it up over the course of the season before we start talking about him as a Heisman contender.

Also, let's not besmirch McSorley, who was one heck of a quarterback for Penn State from 2015 to 2018.